Vladimir Putin faces fresh criticism from Russian troops: 'We do not know who our commander is'

Russian President Vladimir Putin has been criticised again by his own troops. A video of the troops complaining has gone viral online.

Vladimir Putin criticised by Russian troops

Ukrainian internal affairs advisor, Anton Gerashchenko shared a clip on Twitter showing mobilised Russian troops making a variety of complaints as they stood in the snow in an unknown location. Geraschchenko tweeted alongside the clip:

Russian mobilized men complain: either money for gas or to the front lines.

One soldier stands in front of the group reading out a statement addressed to both Putin and Alexander Burkov, governor of Russia's Omsk region, whose capital city of the same name was where the troops were mobilised from. He said:

We appeal to the governor of the Omsk region, Alexander Burkov, and to the President of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin.

We ask that this situation be dealt with.

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'No training' and threatened with frontline

The soldier says that the group belongs to the 504th tank regiment and they were trained as artillerymen in Omsk. They were expecting further combat training, however 'no training was conducted with us' and they were sent to eastern Ukraine on 5 January. When they arrived in the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic, 'all personnel were dispersed to different places in different groups'.

He continued:

Communication with our command broke down. The only officer who stayed with us, the chief of artillery, said, 'I am not your commander, I am the chief of artillery. And there is no artillery anymore because the 504 tank regiment been disbanded and we now belong to the Donetsk People's Republic Army'.

The soldier said that the regiment was then retrained as infantry, however:

After several trips to the firing range, we were asked for money for petrol. If we didn't hand over money for petrol, it meant we didn't need our training and were ready for combat operations on the front line.

He said:

We do not know who our commander is and what unit we belong to.

The soldier added that there was 'no communication' between his regimental commander and the chief of staff.

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Sources used:

Newsweek: 'Russian Troops Film Appeal to Putin: 'We Do Not Know Who Our Commander Is''